Daily Archives: February 17, 2012

Shots of Vikileaks30's final tweets

The Twitter feed @Vikileaks30, which has been launching personal attacks against Public Safety Minister Vic Toews — including purported details of his divorce — has shut down, following a final flurry of tweets on Friday night.

In Dominus We Invest

From Saturday’s February 18th, 2012 VINTAGES release, the great Napicon, conspicuous with a Parker (99) to boast its already inflated position. I tasted it and it truly is da bomb. Is it worth the asking price? That depends on what question you are actually asking.

The Internet assault on Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ personal life and the Conservative government over its controversial Bill C-30 — which would give police much broader powers to snoop on the online communications of Canadians — appears to just be heating up.

The hacker group Anonymous has posted a YouTube video insisting the fight against Toews and the government is only just starting. The group is demanding Toews resign as minister and that the Conservatives scrap an “Internet spy bill” that only gives the government more power to snoop on its citizens.

“Anonymous will not stand for this,” the group says in the video. “We know all about you Mr. Toews, and during Operation White North, we will release what we have unless you scrap this bill. We told you to expect us. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. We are here.”

X WINERY NAPA CABERNET SAUVIGNON 2007 ($29.95) protrudes as a big nose of capsicum and perfumed poppies with a ton of dark fruit. Grainy tannins will require some aeration. Sure value in mid-round Napa draft choices. I’ll buy tickets to the first few seasons and drink up before free agency sets in. Available through www.25brix.com. mjg 90

For seven years I have been playing in the Taylor Cup Pond Hockey Tournament to raise money for Cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital. We skate on the frozen ice of Sparrow Lake at Bayview Wildwood Resort. The weekend was everything we hoped it would be and more. Every game was played on ice and no injuries to report. Shout out to our heroes year after year, hosts Lisa, Brian, Brenda and all the volunteers.

Over $120,000 was raised to support cancer at PMHF. This brings our seven year total to $807,000. My team, VanHooterman raised the second most amount of funds, $13,775. Kudos to my teammates as our seven-year total has now exceeded more than $80,000.

We skated to a 2-2 record, not bad for a bunch of old guys and we kept our string alive. No Sunday games, except for the parents and kids shinny, another Taylor Cup tradition.

Live Chat: Raptors – Bobcats 02/17/2012

Charlotte Bobcats owner, Michael Jordan sits beside fiance, Yvette Prieto during the game between the Chicago Bulls and the Charlotte Bobcats at Time Warner Cable Arena on February 10, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images North America))

New Royal Princess available soon

Princess Cruises will be taking the keys to its new ship, the Royal Princess, in 2013 with the maiden voyage planned for June 16. The ship’s 2013 itinerary will go on sale March 15.

Princess is planning some shorter warm-up cruises from Southampton on June 10 and June 13 but sale of those cruises will occur at a later date.

“It’s fitting that our new ship will cruise on our most popular Europe itinerary, the Grand Mediterranean,” said Jan Swartz, Executive Vice-President for Princess Cruises. “And the shorter preview cruises prior to the Mediterranean season certainly offer a unique opportunity to sample the new Royal Princess experience our passengers are eagerly awaiting.”

The nine 12-day Mediterranean sailings follow the maiden voyage and will cruise between Barcelona and Venice, with calls at Toulon (for Provence), Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples (Capri and Pompeii), Mykonos,Istanbul, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Athens and finally an overnight stay in Venice.

If you’re on the maiden voyage you can hook up with the first of the Mediterranean trips and turn it into a 19-day cruise.

There is lots that’s different on this first new Princess ship since Ruby was launched. Atrium, the signature space, will be 50 per cent larger than on Ruby Princess and will introduce a number of brand new features, including Bellini’s Italian cocktail bar, Ocean Terrace seafood bar, a gelateria, and Celebrations, a new gift shop for those marking special occasions on board.

If you want a preview of the Atrium space click here on the Princess website.

All for now.

How to tie the Kentucky Derby to a cruise ship — that’s the subject of today’s blog at Cruising Done Right.

Ravel Morrison, former Manchester United prospect, pleads guilty to making homophobic comment on Twitter

Sir Alex Ferguson once said of Ravel Morrison that he was the best English prospect since the likes of Paul Scholes.

However, despite this high praise and his immense talent, Morrison was shipped off to Upton Park from Old Trafford in the latest transfer window because of his knack of getting into trouble off the pitch.

Despite the new change of scenery, it appears as though not much has changed with his unsavoury attitude.

Morrison has recently admitted to “using abusive and/or insulting words” after a homophobic remark on Twitter, according to The Guardian.

The English prodigy is reported to have made the comments in response to another Twitter user, who suggested the West Ham player was addicted to drugs.

Morrison tweeted in response: “Crack head? Go suck out u little faggot your a guy that talks if u see me you try slap me I’m in manchester every week.”

The Football Association wrote to Morrison last week for his observations on the matter and formally charged him.

On Friday the Football Association said in a statement: “West Ham United’s Ravel Morrison has admitted a charge under FA rule E3 of using abusive and/or insulting words including a reference to a person’s sexual orientation in relation to Twitter comments.”

By Feb. 2009, I was fed up with the evasive answers, so I filed an Access to Information request related to these “informal consultations.” I was half-expecting a quick reply saying, “No documents found.” What followed from Transport Canada’s ATIP office made the guys in the department’s media relations branch look open and transparent.

So in March 2010, I filed a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. Today, a little vindication. Take a read about Transport Canada not adhering to its “duty to assist” obligations.

Postscript: Transport Canada released partial records to me on Dec. 8, 2011 in response to my initial request dated Feb. 23, 2009. The final response came on Jan. 23, 2012.

Coincidence that the documents were released just as the Conservative announced it was finally kick-starting the regulatory process to bring in all-in-one airfare advertising (announcement made on Dec. 16, 2011)?

You see, if you sit on records long enough, their news value lose currency, or news makes them not very newsworthy.

Canadians asked for their say on airfare advertising rules

Are you fed up trying to figure out the real cost of airfares in Canada? Tired of the imaginary prices in airline advertisements where all of the added fees, special charges and taxes are hidden in microscopic print that is written in some indecipherable language understood only by lawyers ? You’re not alone and the Canadian Transportation Agency wants to hear from you.

After years of delay, the federal government finally gave the CTA this past December the task of developing regulations requiring airlines to include all fees and taxes in their advertised prices as stipulated in section 86.1 of the Canada Transportation Act.

As part of that process, they are seeking public input and you don’t have to travel to some dusty committee room in Ottawa to have your voice heard. You can do it online, but hurry, you don’t have a lot of time. The consultation process ends on February 26. The consultation website is at http://airservicesadvertising.ca/.

If you’re a Twitter user, follow the hashtag #CTAairfareAd to see what the public is saying on the subject.

I’m all for regulations that would allow consumers to compare apples to apples. Instead of one-way fares, I’d like to see return fares advertised that include all unavoidable fees. Showing sales taxes would be nice, but since other retailers aren’t required to do so then I guess airlines wouldn’t have to.